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Shirley joined Strictly last year as the show's new head judge in place of Len Goodman who stepped down the previous series.

But Shirley has been criticised by some fans of the show for her marking and comments, as well as the decisions in the dance off.

Hitting back this week, Shirley took to Twitter to share a message, writing: "After all the negative people and such nasty disgusting comments I received, I post this for anyone out there who has to deal with nasty people. Be kind caring and loving. I live by that. HATE is an awful trait."

Shirley attached an inspirational quote which read: "No matter what you do, someone will have something negative to say. People judge and criticise other people's lives when they're not happy with their own. Follow your heart. Do what's right for you. It's great to consider how your choices will affect the people around you. Just know you don't need everyone's approval to be happy."

Speaking last month, Shirley said of her critics: "It's all down to the public vote and I would appreciate it if I didn't get 50,000 tweets being horrible because I sent someone home.

"Perhaps they shouldn't have been there in the first place - do you know what I'm saying?”

She added to the Daily Star newspaper: "I try to be positive and not to hurt anybody and put anyone's confidence down.”

It's not just viewers who have taken aim at Shirley, with recently eliminated contestant Vick Hope accusing her of 'relishing' in criticising her.

“I think I’ve got to be careful what I say here, because you never know what someone’s thinking," she told Capital FM. “It was from week one that people were suggesting there was something there, I don’t know. It’s been consistent and Saturday night I really felt it was just weird.

“I’ve not really been spoken to like that. She relished in it.”

Last year, Shirley said she judged with "no fear of favour".

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Shirley said: "I judge with no fear or favour, but it has been a very tough week and I really don’t like to see somebody go home.

“But I entirely stand by my decision and that will never change. Don’t anyone tell me how to do my job – I’ve been doing this since I was 16.”

The remaining ten couples will take to the dancefloor again next week when Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC One on Saturday evening at 7:05PM.